At a time when agricultural production needs a boost, and especially in the context of a potential shortage globally of foodgrains, it is a tragedy that the irrigation sector continues to suffer from

Slipping on targets

Business Standard

Long before the cut-off (January 10) for comment on the Securities and Exchange Board of Indias draft guidelines on the regulation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) rolls around, it is evident

A new investment option

India is recognised as one of the worlds largest repositories of medicinal herbs and herbal drugs. Yet the country accounts for a meagre 2 per cent of the worlds organised herbal drugs market, which

Diversifying into herbs

What many people were expecting from aggregate corporate results during the July-September quarter have not materialised. Analysis of the quarterly results reported by over 1,400 manufacturing and

Moderate deceleration

Oddly, India, a leading seller of carbon credits under the clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, does not have an internationally-linked domestic exchange for

Exchange for carbon credit

The draft document of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) was approved by the full Planning Commission, chaired by the Prime Minister, last week. It now goes to the Union Cabinet for approval, prior

Inclusive intent

May a thousand Google phones bloom! That must have been Googles intent when it recently unveiled an ambitious strategy that will make cell phones cheaper, and speed up internet surfing with its new

The call hasn`t ended

Indias dismal ranking on the basis of the global hunger index (GHI), compiled by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), is a matter if shame, but also somewhat

Persistent hunger

The annals of horse trading in Indian politics are strewn with many oddities, but none is odder than two Karnataka coalition partners being unable to pull along because one will not sign an agreement

Unfit to lead

The Thirteenth Finance Commission was constituted last week, under the chairmanship of Vijay Kelkar, a former finance secretary and advisor to the finance minister. During his tenure in the latter

New emphasis required

The atrocities committed in the remote Nandigram area of southern West Bengal, by the cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have now found a most unwelcome echo in the states capital.

Now a communal response

Among the watershed events in Indias corporate history was Swraj Pauls daring double-raid on DCM and Escorts, in 1983. The London-based Mr Paul calculated that if he managed to buy a level of

DCM redux

The decision by the West Bengal government to throw out Taslima Nasreen, the exiled Bangladeshi writer being hounded by Muslim fundamentalists, tarnishes its image further. This calls into question

Secularism on trial

People are often sceptical about how anybody can measure the GDP of an economy taking into account the incredible variety of activities going on, and the prices that consumers pay for them, not to

What`s in a number?

One fall-out of the Iraq conflict, now in its fifth year, is the steady stream of exits by leaders who supported the US action. Spain, one of the few European countries to align with the US, saw a

The Iraq backlash

The developing countries, including India, which have proposed an amendment to the accord on trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs), to incorporate a bio-piracy prevention clause, can draw

Paying for bio-resources

The reform of the pension system has achieved two important milestones. First, after an unfortunate delay induced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the contract for the Central

Action, 10 years later

Without going into the complex and technical issues concerning civilian nuclear cooperation, it is necessary to take a wider look at the implications of the agreement. Is this only a nuclear

Is N-deal part of a larger agreement?

The governments move to extend by six months its controls on the stocking and movement of wheat and pulses defies logic. These checks were imposed under the Essential Commodities Act a year ago, when

Illogical controls

As the sub-prime phenomenon works its way through the worlds financial systems, its potential impact on a relatively comfortable global macro-economic situation is raising concerns. It will take a

Limited impact likely

The suggestion mooted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), to extend the ban on milk powder exports till March, is bizarre. The ban was ill-advised in the first place because milk production

Time to rescind the ban

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 376 - Editorial Comment